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Budget 2015 overlooks rural health care

La Trobe University Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar and Charles Sturt University (CSU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Andy Vann have expressed disappointment the Murray Darling Medical School (MDMS) initiative was again overlooked in the 2015 budget.

The MDMS would provide
undergraduate medical training from campuses in Bendigo, Orange, and Wagga
Wagga, and reserve 80 per cent of enrolments for rural, regional and Indigenous
students.

The Vice-Chancellors said
recent evidence showed the current training arrangements were failing rural and
regional communities, and the Government had missed the opportunity to improve
the supply of GPs and specialists in rural and regional Australia.

Professor Dewar said the
only way to improve the supply of health services in rural and regional
communities was to empower students from those communities to train and
practice in those areas themselves.

"The Murray Darling Medical
School doesn't just address one or two elements of the rural medical pipeline,
it is an integrated package of initiatives based on successful rural
recruitment and retention models in Australia and around the world," Professor
Dewar said.

"The MDMS will work with
local schools to grow aspiration and capacity for a medical and health career.
The MDMS will guarantee 80 per cent of enrolments from rural and Indigenous
backgrounds, and will educate students in the very rural and regional
communities where the shortage exists, addressing the core health needs of those
areas.

"We need a range of strategies to address the
chronic disease of rural doctor shortages, incorporating the best of existing
approaches as well as new and innovative solutions like the Murray Darling
Medical School."

Professor Vann said rural
areas were in desperate need of more doctors.

"The COAG Health Council
also noted that as few as 17 per cent of all medical graduates in their final
years expressed an interest in a rural medical career as a specialist or
GP. This is despite millions of dollars
spent over the last decade to increase medical student numbers and
substantially grow the pipeline of medical students wanting to work in rural
practice.

"Available evidence
suggests that as few as 10 per cent of new medical graduates actually go on to
work in rural areas as rural specialists or GPs after completing postgraduate
training.

"You simply can't service
the health needs of 32 per cent of the population with only 10 per cent of the
medical graduates. This has real implications for economic and social
sustainability in rural and regional areas."

La Trobe University and CSU
will continue engagement with the government, as well as regional communities,
health service providers and doctors about evidence-based solutions to rural
medical workforce shortages, and towards the delivery of the Murray Darling
Medical School in Bendigo, Orange and Wagga Wagga.

Further information about
the Murray Darling Medical School initiative can be obtained at www.mdms.edu.au.